AB 951: Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District.

The County Sanitation District Act provides for the formation of county sanitation districts. Existing law, the Ralph M. Brown Act, requires the regular and special meetings of a legislative body to be held within the boundaries of the territory over which the local agency exercises jurisdiction, except that the local agency may meet in the closest meeting facility if it has no meeting facility within the boundaries of the territory over which the local agency exercises jurisdiction, or at its principal office if that office is located outside the territory over which the local agency exercises jurisdiction. Under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, each state is required to identify those waters for which prescribed effluent limitations are not stringent enough to implement applicable water quality standards and to establish, with regard to those waters, total maximum daily loads (TMDLs), subject to the approval of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, for certain pollutants at a level necessary to implement those water quality standards.

This bill would prohibit the meeting exception described above from applying to the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District when decisions are being made upon policy items relating to a total maximum daily load (TMDL) of any pollutant. By imposing new duties on the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute.

The California Constitution requires local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.